50 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians Awwad Abu Qalbayn - Silwan, East Jerusalem190 On August 30th, 1970, the Israeli Minister of Finance declared, in accordance with the Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance, the confiscations of our lands in Al-Faruq Neighborhood of Silwan, East Jerusalem. The announcement stated that the lands listed in the Ministry of Finance’s order are absolutely required for public needs and it seeks to immediately acquire the right to the land. According to this declaration around 2,240 dunums (2.24 km2) were confiscated from Al-Faruq neighborhood in the village of Silwan. In our case, we used to own 10 dunums of which only 3 dunums were not seized. Some of the remaining 7 dunums were confiscated and some were declared as "natural areas". We are not allowed to build in the land falling within the natural areas. The Israeli military order from 1970 stated that the Minister of Finance intends to have immediate possession over the lands because they are urgently requested for public needs. After 40 years, we still don’t know what those urgent public needs are. In some parts of the lands they planted forest trees and in other parts they kept it as it was. In 1970, when we received the Ministry’s announcement we asked them to do a second reading of the tract, but it was useless. So we held mass demonstrations to oppose the decision. We used to gather and do sit-ins on our land, but they didn’t care. Personally, I sent a letter through a lawyer rejecting the confiscation and requesting my lands back, but it was denied. With our land taken, we lost a source of income and livelihood because we used to plant different kinds of almond, peach and apricot trees and to sell our crops. Absentee Property Law Another law that is applied in order to confiscate Palestinian land is the Absentee Property Law of 1950. Estimates of the total amount of ‘abandoned’ lands to which Israel laid claim vary between 4.2 and 5.8 million dunums (4,200-5,800 km2).191 Between 1948 and 1953 190 Awwad Abu-Qalbayn, ‘Al-Faruq Neighborhood, Silwan - East Jerusalem’, interview by BADIL, February 2013. 191 For more information, see: Adalah, BADIL, and Habitat International Coalition (HIC), Recurring Dispossession and Displacement of 1948 Palestinian Refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Joint written statement to the UN Human Rights Council (August 27, 2009); available from http:// unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/0F9AB8AF7EE5F0A185257647006A47D0.